Berlinfusion

Pony Club Mum - Venturing into Unknown Territory

Still reeling from the shock of discovering that half term starts the day after tomorrow, I set about planning what to do to keep a demanding child occupied.

In the midst of preparing to move here, I'd rashly promised Rhiannon she could take up horse riding. She's not one of those totally horse-mad kids, but always enjoys pony rides at various places and has wanted to learn properly for ages. Besides, she has no after-school activities here and because she returns from school so late, there's no chance of starting any.

She needs some extra focus in her life, preferably sporty. In Tokyo she'd reached her 5th kyu in Aikido and we hoped she'd be able to continue here - she misses it - but sadly we can't find anywhere either nearby, or offering classes that work for her free time. We're still looking.

So, while Tim was off work yesterday we drove over to the Brandenberg British Pony Club to see what they offer. We were met by Nicola, the British owner and escorted under barriers to her office where we discussed options. Afterwards we went to meet the horses and ponies. They were roaming free and some were enormous!

I think I hoped we could get Rhiannon into a few lessons over half term and then random weekends throughout the year. It doesn't work like that - she has to promise to ride at least once every week. This may be a problem as the only days she can attend are Saturdays. So for now we've booked her in to take four trial lessons over the half term and Nicola has kindly agreed that her real lessons can start in September when we return from our summer trip to the UK.

What I particularly like is that it's not just riding - Rhiannon will have to muck in (and muck out), learn how to care for the horses and tack and everything. Nicola will keep her in check. Haha!

I'd also sort of hoped I'd be able to go for a hack while she attends her lessons, but as I've never had a formal lesson in my life, I don't think this would be in order. Besides, I can only really ride properly in a "cowboy" saddle.

I'll admit to being a little nervous about this new venture. Firstly because I will have to drive there by myself (eek!), secondly, all the worst case scenarios are jumping around in my mum-brain and thirdly, I really don't want to spend each and every weekend attending pony club events.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Rhiannon may hate it or be allergic to the horses... I'll know more by the end of the week.

The Organised Mum

The organised mum has a calendar. This calendar may be colour coded with different shades for weekends, appointments noted for each member of the family, including pets, and kept scrupulously up to date.

On this calendar she writes down when school holidays start and end, when sports day is and when her darling child is due to go away on a residential trip. She will also have noted when public holidays are and when her beloved husband has planned leave or business trips.

She will also know when June starts.

I am not this mum.

I am this mum...

I don't even have a proper calendar because, for once, I wasn't sent 30 of the things as Christmas presents last year. So each month I use Word to generate a calendar and pin it up by my desk. This is what I did today. After some searching I found the school holiday chart and a separate planner I hadn't noticed on the website until now.

Although I knew half term was sometime in June I hadn't realised that a) June starts on Wednesday and b) half term starts on Thursday. To say I was somewhat dumbstruck would be a lie - I was not struck dumb, I was struck with expletives.

Tim has tomorrow off. Therefore, I have Tuesday and Wednesday to complete one of my numerous projects before I am thrust into the unenviable task being Rhiannon's entertainment manager.

Not only that, but Rhiannon's residential trip starts on her first day back at school and, because I couldn't attend the meeting about it as she was ill, I have no idea what I'm supposed to do or pack. An email has been hurriedly sent to school asking for further information ASAP.

And as luck would have it, the week of her residential trip is the same week Tim has planned to go away on business. I don't know if this is good or bad luck at the moment.

It looks like I'm going to have to drive here much sooner than I'd hoped. Not least because it turns out that sports day is also in June...

This has all quite ruined my Sunday.

Send calendars please!

I Hate Fireworks

I mentioned about Quiet Time rules in a previous post. But it obviously doesn't apply in the case of fireworks.

For the past three evenings we have been subjected to the racket of what are apparently professional firework displays, judging by the length and breadth of the cacophony. And the obligatory finale of ear-drum bursting loudness.

They start between 10pm and 11pm. How bloody ridiculous is that?

I spend an anxious time waiting for Rhiannon to wake up or the dog to get upset (they sleep together, so if one gets up, so does the other). Thankfully she hasn't been woken by them yet as her room is on the other side of the house.

As you may have deduced, I hate fireworks. Always have.

I loathe the outrageously loud bangs and - in my opinion - the massive and ridiculous waste of good money. Literally going up in smoke. And for what? A few oohs and ahhs? All that money could be spent on far more charitable (and quieter) causes.

Why do they have to be so loud? While I can fully appreciate the beauty and skill in creating explosives that turn into multicoloured flowers in the sky, I do not like the booms.

So far Kita doesn't seem to get too upset by them. We've yet to see how she reacts if they get more frequent and closer, which apparently we will have the "delight" of experiencing on New Year's Eve...

The only dogs I've ever met who actively enjoyed fireworks were a group of highly trained gun dogs. But they still had to be kept indoors so they didn't race off looking for game to retrieve.

I just want them all to go away. Forever. Bah humbug.

I'm Gonna be a Country Girl Again

This song has been running through my head this week.

Sorry if you don't like country music, I blame my Dad for this one! Billie Jo Spears, "Country Girl"...

 

I grew up in the Devon countryside, so country-living is not exactly a novelty. However, I do think I'm a city girl at heart. Or perhaps that's just because I'm a shopaholic?

Whatever, this posting will be an ideal opportunity to save money rather than spend it. Now that is a novelty!

Slowly I'm getting used to the idea that I will no longer have much, if any, opportunity to dress up or use my special handbags here. The only bag I carry every day now is the dog's poo bag... glamourous it is not.

Talking of the dog - she is in a particularly amourous mood today and I'm trying to write this while she's attempting to do unmentionable things to my leg. And god forbid I should get on the telephone; then it's open season (unintended pun...) for my poor legs! A Shiba Inu has extremely strong front legs and when she clamps on it is very painful indeed. When she's not doing "that", she's obsessively licking my shoes. They are now rather soggy.

 

I haven't even unpacked my jewellery yet. There seems little point when all I do is walk in the beautiful countryside, do a spot of birdwatching, pull up the countless oak seedlings in the garden and play ball with Kita out there. My Tokyo friends wouldn't recognise me!

The rest of my time is spent planning and writing a book.

As so many others do, I've been saying I'm going to write a book for years, but have never got around to it. This time however, I am determined to go through with it. To this end, I've actually put myself 'out there' and am in the process of creating a questionnaire for research purposes. So now people have expectations of me which gives me added impetus.

I still have "up days" and "down days". Today is an "up day". I woke to find requests in my inbox to write two guest articles about Japan. A guest article is one you don't get paid for, but never mind. It's all good writing practise.

In case you read my posts thinking "she can't be a writer, the writing's awful, her grammar's appalling" etc, well, I consider these blog posts to be my freefall writing sessions. It makes a change for me to write what I want to write with little concern for prescribed content and protocols.

As my mind is wandering back to Japan thanks to the article requests, I took a look at my Japanory blog. Judging by the people who are finding it through their searches, it appears that they are now looking for general information rather than just earthquake details. Perhaps they are looking to go on holiday there, which would be fantastic. So I may go back to Japanory and start bringing it up to date soon.

Yes, I do like to make my life as impossible as possible!

 

Added after first publishing this post... I've just had it confirmed precisely how isolated I am out here.
There's an office-owned house nearby that was going to be used as a meeting place for us trailing spouses. I think it was going to hold a library and so on too. I was really looking forward to this as all I'd have to do would be to walk down the garden and out the back gate in order to meet people. Unfortunately, all the other spouses have deemed it too far away to visit, so it won't be used now. What a shame. I shall have to find another way to meet people.

Some lyrics from the above song that have resonated:

"I said goodbye to city friends, department stores and bars
The lights of town are at my back, my heart is full of stars
And I'm gonna be a country girl again."

 

 

Berlin Rules!

There's a saying: "In Germany everything is forbidden until it is permitted". This continues with various other country's variations - I'll put a list at the end of this post, I'm sure many people can add to it.

One rule that particularly annoys affects me is "Everything Must Be Closed on Sundays". Sunday is sacrosanct. The church is surprisingly powerful here and insisted upon this law in 2009. I live near a church and they do not have a large congregation... [ETA: I've since been informed the Trade Unions had a big part to play in this law too.]

While attractions such as the zoo and museums are allowed to be open, no retail establishment is permitted to trade. This means that all shopping has to be done either during the week or on Saturday. Some out of town places even close at lunchtime on Saturdays.

I don't like having to be this organised. If I start some gardening project, for example, I'd like to be able to pop to the garden centre on a Sunday to purchase whatever it is I've forgotten. Or if, as is usual, I've run out of milk... I can't pop to the conbeni or local store to get more. I suppose I'll get used to it, but I'm already bored with trying to remember everything we need to get on a Saturday.

Another interesting rule is about washing your car. Basically you can't. You're not allowed to; it's against the law. You can wash your car yourself IF you happen to live near a special city-authorised car-washing drain. Otherwise you must use a public car wash. Some places even have restrictions on which day of the week car washing is permitted!

Gardens: You must keep your front garden looking good. But you are not allowed to cut any trees.

Quiet Time: During the hours of 1pm-3pm and after 8pm and all day on Sundays and public holidays you must not make excessive noise. Such as mowing the lawn, drilling, hammering or anything else noisy that may upset your neighbours. I think barking dogs and squealing kids are also included but we haven't been told off yet...

It's also illegal to cross the road at a pedestrian crossing when the light is on red and if the police see you do it, you'll be fined. (So just make sure they don't see you!)

And one of the strangest rules of all - it is against the law to have the ashes of your loved one stored in an urn at home after cremation. Lucky I don't have any then...

As for the rest of the list I referred to at the beginning of this post... these were contributed by an expat forum I belong to. I hope they are taken in the humorous way they're intended.

• In Germany everything is forbidden until it is permitted.
• In England everything is permitted until it is forbidden.
• In France everything is permitted even if it is forbidden.
• In Singapore everything is forbidden even if it is permitted
• In the US, everything is permitted until a marketing research study finds that it A) causes cancer or B) is fattening. Then it's forbidden, but only in certain states.
• In the Philippines everything forbidden can be permitted depending on your social status.
• In Italy, if you're the Prime Minister or know the right people...everything is permitted... otherwise, everything is still permitted, but you have to talk your way around it.
• In India everything is permitted if you can pay for it, and everything is forbidden if you can't.
• In Thailand, everything is permitted and everything is not forbidden!

Procrastination Overcome - Until Next Time...

It's one thing procrastinating madly when the chips are in the air, but once they come down, then I do (finally) get to work.

Wednesday was a washout, work-wise (see previous post).

Then Tim told me he was taking Thursday off so I wasn't going to get my work done then. But that's OK. If I know I can't work on a specific day that's fine; I don't get The Guilt.

So on Thursday we took delivery of a secondhand freezer and an old set of sofas and armchairs. Why? Well, the freezer we currently is too small and with no supermarket within easy reach we need more space. Now we have an extra appliance in the basement. Excellent! And as for the sofas etc, the ones here before were a vile off-white leather set - too small, too revolting and too uncomfortable. The ones we've managed to swap them for are much bigger, not quite so vile and have dark blue covers. They'll do.

A lot of reorganisation was done on Thursday, including a trip to the shop to stock up on lots of food for a change.

Therefore, Friday was designated as my Bloody Well Get Some Work Done day.

This is how it went:

After four and a half hours of dreadful sleep due to leg cramps and my mind working overtime, I finally got up at 5am. This is an unnatural hour for me (I'm a confirmed night-owl), but it was rather nice. I felt more than fine.

I booted up the PC, got a cup of tea and caught up on news, emails and so on while watching a pair of jays outside the window. They were gathering nesting material. A good start to the day.

Got myself some breakfast and another cuppa and continued as above.

Woke Tim and Rhiannon up for work and school. A new experience for me and both were shocked!

Usual mad rush to get Rhiannon onto the bus - she was going for a sleepover so needed to have a case packed.

By 0815 I was out walking Kita. This I must do more often. We met more dogs than usual - not such a great thing at the moment as she's on heat, but we escaped without incident. I also saw four tiny ducklings which were delightful soul-food.

Once I got home I was ready to work because all my usual procrastination websites had already been browsed and closed down. "Like"!

I motored through and wrote five articles out of the nine that are due by the end of the month. I give myself false dreadlines, partly to ensure I have plenty of leeway in case of unexpected incidents (such as Rhiannon being violently ill or Tim taking unannounced days off) and mostly to clear the decks ready for my other projects.

Yes, I took breaks, but these were necessary for health and not, in my view, classed as procrastination: a walk around the garden to stretch my crampy legs, a quick play with the dog - that sort of thing.

However, Tim returned from work early, so although I was on a roll by then, I had to finish it there.

I finished the day's work feeling rather pleased with myself.

As a reward to myself, I cut some branches and a bundle of unidentified tree flowers from the garden and lost myself creating my first Ikebana arrangement in several months. I'm actually qualified to teach Sogetsu Ikebana, but my Sensei in Tokyo would have been dismayed by my lackadaisical arrangement. It looked pretty to me though.

Tim took me out to dinner in the evening and then we watched a movie.

A Good Day!

 

Note: A lot of the reason for my procrastination problem is that I don't particularly enjoy the subjects I write about. As you've seen by this blog (and possibly my Japanory one,) I certainly don't have a problem with getting lots of words typed up. That's because it's all about ME and therefore a terribly easy subject to write about. For a start I don't have to do any research.

For this freelance writing job, I only have to produce these articles once every three months, leaving me plenty of time (in theory) to concentrate on my other, non-paying yet far more interesting, projects.

Overcoming Procrastination

I apologise if you've found this post thinking I can help you overcome procrastination. I'm afraid I'm the wrong person for that. You see, I am Queen of Procrastination. But if you have any tips for me, I'd gratefully receive them.

Today was going to be a Good Day. Lot's of work to catch up on and I intended to power through as much of it as I could.

Oh, before I go any further - re yesterday's rather self-pitying post. Sorry about that, I'm OK now - it was a blip. Thank you for all your supportive comments on Facebook, I really appreciate them.

And the school bus turned up (as I assumed...)

Back to today. After I'd taken the dog out for a nice long walk, read the news, caught up with emails and social networking, it was time to get down to some serious writing work.

Then the phone rang. It was Tim asking if the bus had turned up...

Back to work, but now not so fully focused I got carried away researching. Then the doorbell rang - someone to collect the garden waste. This involved me having to catch the dog to bring her indoors while they cleared the branches away.

Focus all gone, so I tried to regain it by double checking my research. I like research. I learn all sorts of interesting things, usually totally unrelated to the subject I'm currently writing about.

I wrote a few words.

The doorbell went. Yay! It was an Amazon delivery of some books needed for my course work and research for my book-in-the-planning-stages. So of course, I had to speed read part of one of them.

For goodness sake, concentrate Carole! Perhaps I can squeeze in a bit more work before Rhiannon comes home.

I wrote a few more words.

Oh, I need to do the laundry. Three loads of it.

Then a great friend of mine phoned from the UK. We haven't spoken in months so we had a lovely long and much-needed chat. She's a lovely, fizzy woman who enervates me. The polar opposite of an emotional vampire. I asked my friends what these type of people are called. The answer is apparently either "Violets" or "Enerangels"!

So after about 6 hours of "work" I'd produced 110 words, about half of which are surplus anyway.

And apparently Tim has taken tomorrow off work.

Therefore, next week will be ultra-busy. Although I do work best under pressure, all this procrastination is taking me further away from doing what I want to do rather than what I have to do to earn a few pounds.

I'll learn one day, I guess.

 

Assumptions

Yeah, I know the cheesy phrase about assumptions. Let's ignore it.

Tim and I had a discussion earlier; both of us have made assumptions today which may not have a great outcome.

 

Assumption 1 - mine:
Rhiannon was still off sick today. I won't bore you with the details - see the previous post for the gory details; let's just say I am enjoying a late night bit of quiet time. On Monday, I asked the school to cancel the school bus for today as the man I spoke to on Monday morning didn't understand me. This was done.

Rhiannon is going back to school tomorrow. Therefore I assume that the bus will turn up as normal because it hasn't been specifically cancelled.

Tim thinks it will not turn up and what will I do if it doesn't? Apparently I should have phoned them today to confirm. I was a little busy and this didn't even cross my mind.

If the bus isn't here by 0810 I will phone up and hope for the best. If it doesn't come... I guess I may drive, but it's more likely I will chicken out (yes, I'm a wimp) and Rhiannon will have another day off.

We will see what happens in the morning.

 

Assumption 2 - Tim's:
His first words when he returned from work were, "Rhiannon has a sleepover on Saturday, hasn't she?"

"Erm... no."

"Well, haven't you phoned her to arrange one?" (The "her" is the mum of the girl who came her last weekend). "We've been invited out but can't go if Rhiannon's here."

All this in front of Rhiannon, by the way...

"I can't just phone someone I've only briefly met twice and ask her if Rhiannon can come for a sleepover on Saturday! It's just not done."

Or am I wrong? I don't know, but if feels rather rude to me. If I knew her better, fair enough. But I don't.

 

All this may change as the week goes on.

As we have no babysitter, my chances of meeting anyone new are somewhere between limited to impossible.

Of course, it's different for Tim, he meets new people at work and Rhiannon meets people at school.

I don't get the chance to meet or interact with anyone at school due to the bus service, which I still think is a wonderful invention. Without fluent language skills, I can't join any clubs or groups. Even if there were any nearby.

Such is the life of a trailing spouse.

The Best Laid Schemes of Mice and Mums...

My apologies to Robert Burns' poem To a Mouse, 1786.
"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft a-gley".

I had great plans for this week: write my dreadline-due articles, organise a survey in preparation for my book which is currently in the planning stages, attempt to catch up on my studying, learn German (hah!), find random MIA articles from the move, get some business cards organised... well, my to-do list is endless.

But I was all ready to get going today. I felt inspired. No procrastinating this week; I was ready to GO!

Sadly, Murphy and his sodding law had different ideas.

Yesterday, after a morning spent hanging pictures and an afternoon walking in the forest, Rhiannon complained of stomach ache. 

Her face looked a bit white.

She went and sat on the toilet a few times during the late afternoon, to no avail.

Then...

"Mum, I feel sick"

"Well, get into the toilet, QUICK!"

"But I feel si..."

Oh.

Timing has never been her strong point.

Projectile vomit all over the floor. Twice. Thankfully the rest made it into the toilet. Tim cleared up the mess - I'm not sure which shocked me more; Rhiannon's spectacular puking or Tim managing to clear it up without being sick himself.

Anyway, the sickness and diarrhoea continued ALL night, poor girl. I spent the night in her room; I can't say I slept as she was moaning in her sleep and racing to the bathroom every hour.

Incredibly, we have managed nine years without a major stomach bug like this. There was a short bout of food poisoning when she was a baby (thanks to a dodgy Mr Whippy ice-cream in Dawlish... say no more), but other than that, no sickness bugs. She's had a couple of other major problems, but I'll tell you about those another time.

So. No school. This involved contacting the catering company, the bus company and of course, the school. All before 0745. Emails sorted out the school and caterers, but I still had to get hold of the bus company. Who don't speak English. I managed to get through just in time though, so all was sorted on that front.

She's currently ensconced on the sofa with a temperature and feeling very sorry for herself. Still trotting to the bathroom every hour or so, but thankfully not being sick any more. I am providing water, sympathy and lots of cuddles, between writing this.

And she will be off school tomorrow too.

So much for my plans to get going on all my work and projects this week. Manic catch-up due as soon as possible.

Oh, and the mouse?

The mouse had plans to do mouse-y things last night - pottering around the garden, doing a spot of mouse-shopping and perhaps it had a date.

But unfortunately for said mouse, Raymi the cat has recovered a little from his agoraphobia. Only when it's dark though - there is no way he will venture outside in daylight yet.

When he returned from his night-time wanderings he came with a little present. Yup, a dead mouse. Or to be more precise, half a dead mouse.

I put a sign on the door saying "Beware of the mouse" to remind me to get rid of it this morning.

I have spent today feeling rather queasy myself.

 

KaDeWe

Woohoo! We went into the city centre today! My favourite hobby - shopping.

Well, it didn't quite work out that way (does it ever?). By the time Rhiannon's sleepover / playdate mate went home, it was 3pm before we caught the bus. Anyway, it gave me an insight into how to use the bus and what's on the main shopping street of Kurfürstendamm, aka Ku'damm. It's a bit like an elongated version of Oxford Street and Bond street all in one. Designer boutiques at one end, random stuff in the middle and at the other end, the famous store, KaDeWe.

KaDeWe stands for Kaufhaus des Westens, which means the 'Department Store of the West' and is comparable to Harvey Nichols. Seven floors of goodies. It was gorgeous! I can see it becoming a favourite haunt of mine.

With Tim and Rhiannon with me, I had no chance at all of browsing properly, but we did have a  good look around the incredible food hall. Oh, the cakes! And the bread... carbohydrate heaven.

The kitchenware floor looked interesting and there was an art and design bit downstairs. Apparently there is also a hobby store, but we couldn't find it.

It was all so busy. Heaving crowds disconcerted Rhiannon a little; "everyone is so BIG!" she exclaimed, "and so bad mannered, too". Yes, we are well used to crowds from living in Tokyo, but as a people, they are shorter and slighter in build and by nature, very respectful of others. Poor Rhiannon got buffeted a lot by some very large people with no apology. Buses are a free for all, so I taught her how to barge through - no queuing here.

Anyway, we also visited a mobile phone shop and now I finally have a SIM card so I can get some business cards printed for when (if!) I actually meet people.

As for the rest of Ku'damm - well, Tokyo it is not. Lots of beggars with and without dogs, pot-bellied men in shorts, dirty pavements. It was a lot like London really. Without the mountains of rubbish on the pavements. Or was it just like the when I last went to London in 2009?

I shall go back during the week one day for some luxury and a chance to remind myself there's more to Berlin than unpacking, gardening and dog walking.

 

What Makes a House a Home?

I seem to have spent the past week or so constantly tidying up, cleaning, putting things away and doing far more ironing than is healthy. But the house doesn't look any different.

Yes, all our boxes are unpacked. But stuff is still all over the place. I can't find homes for many things and the storage here is pathetic. It looks like we'll need to make a trip to Ikea to get some cupboards.

So does this house feel like home yet? Well, sort of... it's a mess, so that's normal!

Getting my books in place went a long way to making it feel homely. The next, and probably final step, will be hanging the pictures. Unlike the cardboard walls in our home in Tokyo the ones here are concrete so I am banned from attacking them. Therefore, I have to wait for Tim to oblige.

In the meantime I have been placing ornaments in place. My Imari porcelain is now in its own cabinet and I get great pleasure from looking at it every day. Other ornaments are proving trickier to place and I keep moving them around until they "find their home".

Now for the bit that made a few people laugh at me on Twitter yesterday... I've been sorting out my stones and feathers. And my Native American medicine bag. The latter was the first item I placed in my bedroom. I've had it for donkey's years and it contains numerous items of a very personal and spiritual (to me) nature. To read more about the sorts of things that go into this bag, look here.

As for the feathers and stones. Well, each to their own and all that, but I collect stones and feathers. I've had some of these as long as I can remember. And I can recall where almost each one came from.

My feathers: Amongst many others I have macaw feathers from the Amazon, buzzard feathers from the place in Hampshire where my Dad's ashes were scattered, owl feathers blessed by a Shaman, feathers from long-departed pets and peacock feathers from Sri Lanka.

In the background out of the window, you can just see my Japanese stone lantern which is now safely placed in view of my desk. In time, I shall make a little Japanese garden there.

These are three of my special stones, and yes, they've been in every home I've live in. I have many, many more, but decided to put some of them in storage for a while. I've also got a few fossils I've found over the years.

I may be considered bonkers but these items, placed in this house, have started to make it feel like a home.

Perhaps it's because of their familiarity? Who knows?!

 

What a Difference a New School Makes

I am amazed at how quickly and well Rhiannon has settled into her new school routine. I'm immensely proud of her newly found confidence and she is thrilled with the school. Whilst I agree it's still early days, she seems to have got off to a great start.

Rhiannon's School Day. (Obviously not actually written by Rhiannon, but I did "interview" her last night!)

"I get up at 6.30am and go downstairs with Kita to make my breakfast. Of course, I don't wake Mum up - she doesn't do mornings. So I wake up Dad instead; after all, he has to get to work early too.

Dad takes Mum a cup of tea at 7.30am and hassles her until she growls and gets up. He leaves at 7.45am so I need Mum to open the gate for me because I just cannot work out how to use keys.

Mum gets up and starts yelling at me to get dressed. Well, I didn't want to spill breakfast on my lovely new school dress, did I? I really enjoy getting ready as s l o w l y as possible because it really winds Mum up. I can almost see her blood pressure rising as I decide what trinket to take to school today to play with. Mum says I shouldn't take my stuff into school because I always lose it. Well, I don't mean to lose it, I just forget about it because I'm having so much fun.

Yesterday was brilliant! I got up especially early as I wanted to pierce my ears.

Mum thought I was cleaning my teeth properly for a change but really I was trying to force an earring into my ear lobe. It didn't go through the skin though, and it hurt quite a bit too, so I stopped. Made my ear all red and it's got a little dent in it now. It's a bit sore; perhaps that wasn't such a good idea after all.

By 8am Mum has gone a funny colour. Well, I can't remember where I put my school shoes, can I?

Mum goes outside to open the front gate for me. The school bus arrives at 8.05am. Mum thinks this door-to-door bus idea is the best thing ever. She says it's great because she doesn't have to do the school run any more, but I think it's also because she gets Rhiannon-free time from 8.05 until about 4.45pm. Poor Mum, I wonder if she misses me?

There are seven other children on my bus. They are really interesting, a great mix of nationalities and religions. We had a really cool theological conversation the other day between a Christian, a Muslim and a Jew. I learned a lot.

This school is so much better than my old school in Tokyo. Although I do miss my friends there, I certainly don't miss the bullying. Everyone here is so nice. Our school is 'all-in-one', primary and secondary schools all on one campus, right the way up to 18 year olds. I've got three very special best friends and am having a sleepover this weekend.

Because it's summer now, we do most of our lessons outside! And our playtimes are longer than my previous school. One thing I am having a bit of trouble getting used to is the sheer amount of space at the school. There's a forest (but we're not allowed to go into the bit where the teachers can't see us), two playgrounds with climbing walls and frames, a slide and all sorts of other apparatus. And grass. So much real grass. It's weird - there was only fake plastic grass in Tokyo; or tarmac which really hurts when you fall over on it. I fall over quite a lot. And with all this space and playgrounds, I have had a lot of accidents. Not bad ones, but I usually end up with several new, big bruises every day.

Red squirrels are everywhere, foxes live in the forest - someone said they saw a dead rabbit outside the fox-hole with it's insides all over the ground. Eew! There are also some wild boar, but apparently most of them have been killed because they are dangerous. I think there may be two left. [UPDATE! I saw a wild boar in the forest today! We were really scared and didn't know what to do, but luckily it wandered away]

All that running around out in the fresh air makes me really hungry. Luckily we have this fabulous cafeteria at school. We can buy snacks and get a cooked lunch too. The waffles are the best things ever.

Lessons? Oh, they're OK I suppose. Because I started here in May, there are some subjects I have already done in my old school. That's OK because it makes me look clever. I do German lessons too, but find them really difficult - German is a lot harder for me than Japanese. Mum says this is because I started learning Japanese when I was just five which made it easier. Now I'm nine and a half and nearly grown up I suppose my brain doesn't work as well any more. Like Mum's...

At home time, it's back on the bus again. Mum's looking out the window for me so she can let me in.

I wonder if she's been standing there all day?"

Kitchen Chaos

I still cannot get used to my "new" kitchen.

It's much smaller than the last two I've had and, although there's quite a lot of cupboard space, it's all been filled with crockery. Why on earth do I have so many mugs and bowls? I love them all, so getting rid isn't an option.

Anyway, I've rearranged the storage so many times I can't find anything. It takes me about three tries before I locate the correct item. Nobody else stands a chance. Tim doesn't even bother to look, and just calls out "Where does this go?" or "Where can I find x, y, or z?"

It's quicker to find it myself.

There is no working space. That's not really a huge problem as I'm not a great cook. By that I mean I don't make pastry from scratch, make jam or spend hours slaving over a hot stove creating some fancy dish. No, simple and quick are my cooking by-words. But it becomes annoying when trying to dish up a meal as there's nowhere to put anything. And I used to like baking cookies. Can't see that happening here unless I roll the dough out on the floor.

Oh, the floor! It's white stone tiles. White! In a kitchen. With a dog, cat and child tramping all over the place. And stone! Just aching for me to drop some special plate or glass onto it. I have an old-fashioned scrubbing brush, for heavens sake! Haven't used it yet, mind you...

Once in a while I may bake a cake. But that will involve having to find the right ingredients. Like self raising flour, or at least baking powder so I can make my own. And caster sugar. Or brown sugar. neither of which I have spotted anywhere yet.

Yesterday, I made the obligatory Sunday roast dinner. The cooker is fierce! So the roast potatoes were done in no time. This is good. I also found rhubarb in the newly discovered supermarket and was instructed to make rhubarb crumble. Did I mention we'd found a supermarket at long last? It's a driving distance away, but has quite a lot of items in it; more than a corner shop but less than a hyper-market.

OK... that means finding flour. It turns out flour in Germany is labelled with numbers. I had no clue what they meant so just grabbed one and googled it once I got home. It was numbered 405, which apparently is "pastry flour" according to this site. It worked OK. However, I completely forgot to look for something to go on the crumble, so we had no cream or custard.

My food store cupboards need a lot of filling. So to do that, I will have to make a proper shopping list of the basics we normally take for granted. And for the life of me I can't think what they may be!

Perhaps you can help me compile a list so I don't have to live on pasta? What do I need?!

How did I manage in Tokyo, you may ask? Well, there were two big international supermarkets which kindly labelled everything in English. I wonder if there is similar here?

Dinner was a great success (yay me!) and Tim's job is to sort out the dishes. Our dishwasher is crap. There is no other word for it. Everything comes out all scummy and may as well be washed by hand in the first place. (Some weeks later Tim discovered the water intake wasn't working properly and was on the verge of giving up completely.)

And as for the freezer... totally pointless. Two and a half drawers, that's it. It holds a couple of loaves of bread and a small joint of meat. When we have some money we will have to invest in a second one. It can live in the basement.

But my lovely new Japanese water boiler kettle is wonderful. And has been much used today.

It's the Little Things...

It's the little things in life that make the transition from Tokyo to Berlin more enjoyable.

Thick, soft toilet paper. Yes, you did read that correctly! Japan may well be known for its fancy toilets (or not) but the toilet paper left a lot to be desired. It was thin and white. That was it. The first time Rhiannon saw coloured loo roll she was amazed.

Here we can choose thick, super-thick or so-thick-it's-no-longer-soft-but-a-bit-like-cardboard. And it has patterns on, dolphins and feathers so far. Like I say, it's the little things!

Basically, I'm trying to focus on the positives.

Something else that pleases me a great deal is the delicious bread here. I love hot buttered toast and have indulged a lot since I arrived. Bread in Japan was, quite frankly, weird.

And then this arrived!

It's a Japanese "kettle"

It took a long time to find one of these Zojirushi water boilers that work in Europe. The electricity in Japan is 100 volts - it would take a week to boil a normal kettle - so we had one of these and never looked back. You just push a couple of buttons and instant boiling water. For a tea addict like me, this is a must-have piece of equipment. Oh, and it plays a little tune when the water has boiled -Bach's Minuet in G major. Cute!

I managed to track one down that's been converted for use in Europe through this site; all we needed to do was attach a plug converter.

Tea on tap. Heaven!

 

Fenced In & Dog Days

The past few days have been non-stop busyness culminating in strangely (for me) total exhaustion. Perhaps this is an odd form of jet lag or culture shock. (It's OK - I'm fine now!)

I won't write down everything that's gone on for the past couple of days as it will take too long. So I'll concentrate on my lovely dog.

I've mentioned before that our garden isn't dog-proof, so Kita has been tethered to a long rope while she enjoys the spring air. Until now! We were given approval to have a higher fence installed around part of the garden on Wednesday and the workmen turned up on Thursday morning. Now that's efficiency! So there was banging and crashing and men in the garden for two days.

Only part of the garden can be enclosed as our neighbours are having a similar fence erected down our boundary. But until a particularly lovely silver birch tree is felled their fence can't be completed. Apparently the tree "is in the way" - why not go around it? It seems a shame to get rid of such a beautiful mature tree. Anyway, not my decision...

The workmen finished their job on Friday evening and today we bought some chain-link fencing to proof the rest of the garden in, what will probably be, a long interim until the boundary fence is completed.

By this evening, Tim had finished his part in the dog proofing and now Kita has full run of our  garden. What a happy dog!

More dog-related stuff: we're going to the UK in the summer holidays and will be taking Kita with us. Therefore she needs a pet passport. Which means we need to find a vet.

A lucky strike! There is one within walking distance and he advertises himself as speaking English. So Tim and I took a walk down there with Kita yesterday morning, intending on introducing ourselves and registering for an appointment in the future. Oh, and to pick up some tick prevention stuff. The revolting things are making their presence known.

We reached the building just as he opened. A slightly scruffy man was standing in the doorway and looked very suspiciously at us as we walked up his path.

"Good morning! Are you the vet?"

"Uh-huh...ja, yes."

Now maybe I've been spoiled by vets in Japan and in the UK, but usually they greet the animal too... this one didn't. Ah well, he looked like he had a bad hangover and had cut himself very badly shaving, so we carried on. Maybe he was fazed by random Brits turning up unannounced. Anyway, all we wanted a pet passport and a vet in close proximity in case of emergency.

He ushered us into his surgery - a converted room in his home. A bit shabby, but never mind. We quickly explained our needs and he looked even more suspicious. Very odd. But he got out the passport and then the next hour was spent trying to help him fill it in using the Japan-issued paperwork. He was very reluctant and was obviously out of his comfort zone by a long way. One thing he was very dubious about was the rabies vaccination and insisted on giving Kita a jab to make him happier in completing the form.

This did not go down well with Kita at all. His "bedside manner" left a lot to be desired. If I could have left I would have done, but too late, she got jabbed.

The next incident was him trying to find her microchip. It didn't matter how many times I told him precisely where it was - it had migrated after implantation - he insisted on looking for it in the "European standard place". Naturally, Kita was exceedingly unhappy being on the table with this man who hadn't properly fussed and petted our princess diva dog and treated us all to the infamous Shiba scream.

At least he knew what sort of dog Kita was. Most people call her a "baby husky" or a "fox on a lead"! All owners of Shiba Inus get this.

It was all a bit too much for Kita and she decided to start her season in the surgery. At least it was on a cleanable floor. And thank goodness we now have a high fence around her. I'm a bit concerned how we'll fare over the next few weeks with all the dogs here off-leash. In Tokyo it was fine as dogs weren't allowed off leash at all and we never had a problem walking her while she was on heat.

Finally the paperwork was completed and we were in possession of a pet passport. And some tick treatment.

We paid up and left. On the way home we suddenly recalled he hadn't charged us for the rabies jab. Oops! We'll pay it next time we visit to get more supplies of the tick drops.

To end this post, here's a gratuitous photo of her as a cute puppy.

 

In Which I Find A Farmers' Market

Went in a different direction for today's dog walk. I was actually heading towards what Google Maps said was a supermarket.

The map was wrong.

No supermarket was there, but instead a rather nice farmers' market lined the street selling delicious fruit and veg, a few clothes and the ubiquitous sausages.

A word about sausages: I've lost count of the number of people who said, when they heard we were moving to Germany, "Oh, they have lovely sausages, enjoy the sausages".

I'll let you into a non-secret - I don't actually like sausages. I have a fair idea what goes into them and it's not pleasant. Even the dog isn't keen on sausages. And that tells you something.

Anyway. I needed butter and sugar, hence the supermarket search, but the market had neither. I had to drag Kita away from the rather fabulous cheese stall though.

It would have been nice to get a selection of fruit and veg, but I didn't have much money on me and it was quite a long way to walk back with a heavy load of shopping and an excitable dog.

So I bought myself a big bunch of lily of the valley. As you do.

All my years of studying Sogetsu Ikebana went to pot as I just popped the posy into a small vase and let the sweet scent fill the room.

Back at home, Kita suddenly shot into the living room at the back of the house, hackles raised, barking madly and growling. Yikes! What was up?

There were men in the garden. Ah yes, Tim mentioned to me yesterday that we'd been granted permission to replace the fence with something more dog-proof and lo and behold they were well underway already.

Once I'd introduced Kita to them, she was fine and only barked about 60 times throughout the day. So much for the Shiba Inu being a 'quiet dog'.

Needless to say I achieved nothing in particular today.

Apart from still (unsuccessfully) trying to sort out my now defunt internet business, set-up my outgoing mail server and generally try and think of  a new business to start in order to earn some money.

 

The Joy of Mail

Postal systems have been at the forefront of my mind recently, and not in a good way, as you will have seen from my previous post.

But receiving mail is delightful. Unless it's bills or other unwanted items, of course.

What I'm talking about is getting personal mail: surprise letters, magazines, small gifts of chocolate and tea (thank you Mum!), "Welcome to your New Home" cards and goodies ordered over the internet. These are all very exciting things for an isolated expat to receive.

Rather sadly, the internet has stopped most of this excitement. People use email, catch up on Facebook or Twitter and even send e-cards rather than proper ones. Yes, I'm guilty of all this too, mostly because I can, and partly because I am forgetful of people's birthdays. Besides, it's all much more immediate, isn't it?

Not all my friends and family are on the internet though. Some don't even have a computer, so I keep in touch with them by phone. Being in nearly the same timezone will take some getting used to in this respect. Now I can call them without inadvertently waking them at scary o'clock in the morning. In theory, anyway. I've been used to being able to phone people at 1am "my" time from Tokyo - but that would now be midnight in the UK... not a good move and I've had to catch myself a couple of times so far.

However, nothing beats the thrill of opening the mailbox to find handwritten, personally addressed cards or letters. I was amazed when we first moved in here that there were five cards already waiting for us. One of the senders even has a computer and we regularly chat online, so this made receiving her card even more special for me. That's been it though.

It makes me a little sad, which is peculiar because I'd got used to not receiving post while I was in Japan. People were under the impression it cost too much to send a card there, so didn't bother trying. Plus, social networking took off during my time there, so I suppose that had a lot to do with it as well. I could go on a longer "poor me" rant, but won't indulge myself or bore you. And don't even get me started on the demise of the "Thank You" note! The lack of them makes me question whether it's worth bothering to send a gift in the first place.

However, if you would like to send me a card or letter, please do!

This week I will mostly be waiting in for parcels to be delivered.

There is no option to ask the postie to "leave parcel with neighbours" or "put in alleyway" as our front gate is permanently locked. Our mail box is an ugly, thin metal box soldered through the railings. Its paint is peeling and at most, it will hold a small handful of letters or one free German newspaper.

As I'm expecting various parcel deliveries this week I figure it's easier to wait around for them.

The delivery person buzzes and there's a button in the house which opens the gate. The intercom doesn't work so the only way I can check who's calling is to crane over the sink in the kitchen. Or just go out, key in hand to open it myself. I haven't yet worked out the protocol for this.

One delivery arrived today (petfood). I didn't have time to look out the window so went out clutching my keys. The delivery man was pushing at the gate so I pretended the automatic opening thing didn't work.

Next time I shall press the buzzer and take delivery at the door. It will save me having to lug a very heavy box up the steps. And hopefully I won't be opening the front door to some crazed axe-murderer instead.

I don't normally think like this, by the way. It just all the security just to get into our house that's causing slightly paranoiac thoughts!

Closing My Business

I'd been looking forward to today for ages. Rhiannon's back at school now and today, Tim returned to work after another long public holiday weekend. For the first time since 9th March, I was truly free.

FREEEE! Oh yes, I was extremely happy this morning.

The weather perked up again although the temperature remained chillingly low and I decided to take Kita for a long, exploratory walk around our area.

We found a stunning new lake, but couldn't find a path that went all around it. Beautiful houses, mansions really, edged most of the lakeside and we had some fun playing in the new area. Then we rambled down some pretty tree-lined streets, admiring the lilac trees in full-bloom. I spotted a rather nice gym. Not a lot of use to me - I don't 'do' gyms. Everything else is houses. Some are offices, but in general this is a wholly residential area. The architecture is absolutely stunning though - no two buildings are the same. Some are ultra-modern, others boast traditional styling. All are gorgeous.

Still no post office though, despite them being marked on Google Maps. I desperately need access to a post office so I can continue with my fairy letter writing business called "Dear Fairies"; Fairies would write letters to children (and some adults). I really enjoyed the escapism from reality this provided and the glowing feedback from happy customers was fabulously uplifting.

We were out for a good couple of hours and on my return found an email from someone telling me where the parcel-delivering post office was. Oh well, better late than never! Apparently not all "post offices" deal with parcels. It was in the opposite direction from today's walk, a couple of kilometers away. A couple of kilometers? Wow, that's a bit far to keep popping out to, but at least there is one.

I decided to investigate further - looking for how-to-use-the-post-office guides - and to my horror, discovered that the cost of sending parcels from Germany is astronomical. This threw me in a flat spin and I asked on Twitter for further advice. I was given a couple of other, private companies to try. But they were only relevant for bulk business use. My little company just couldn't afford it. Postage would cost at least as much as the item. No customer would pay that. And I couldn't absorb the cost.

I can't believe it's more expensive to send a parcel from Germany to the UK than it was to send an express mail parcel all the way from Japan to the UK.

I took another walk and found the post office, and sure enough, the postal charges are incredibly high.

Therefore, I have had to come to the very sad decision to close my little business. It was just starting to really take off when the earthquake in Japan struck. The mail system naturally went into disarray so I suspended trading for a while, then of course we moved here.

I had fully expected to reopen as soon as I could with a sparkly new website. Thank goodness I held fire on creating that. It would have been more expense down the drain. As it is, I still have all my stock, paper, special boxes and everything, now to be unused. I thought about reopening again once we leave Germany, but that's too far ahead and so I've given it all up - domain name and all. It's very upsetting.

And that leads me on to the next depressing section: trying to transfer domain names from one provider to another - nightmare! Something went wrong, of course, so now I'm waiting for a reply from the provider which I doubt will happen soon.

To pile misery on more misery, I haven't been able to set up my outgoing mail server as the SMTP details we've been left don't work. Or perhaps we've purchased the wrong package.

All in all, you could say I am mightily depressed this evening and more than a little frustrated. And once again, looking for a way to earn some money.

Does anyone need a freelance magazine layout designer / writer / proofreader / editor? Well, it's worth a try, isn't it?!

 

Why is it so Difficult to Find...?

I have been searching for weeks for a simple bottle-green jumper or cardigan for Rhiannon's school uniform. And have come up with nothing.

Unlike the school in Tokyo, this one in Berlin is pretty flexible about uniform. For example, I can choose from five different colours of socks! Items can be ordered from Marks and Spencers or Next... as long as the colours are correct. Bottle green seems to be one of those colours that is interpreted in many ways though.

All the jumpers and cardigans in her size are out of stock. Everywhere. And I believe I have actually tried everywhere. If there is one in stock, the company doesn't deliver overseas. If she was aged 4, no problem. Ditto aged 16. But nothing in a size 9-10. I've scoured every shop I can find here (not many) and still nothing.
Incidentally, C&A is here. Do you remember them? They don't sell them either.

She's only got about eight weeks of school before the summer holidays start so I thought I might get away without this unavailable piece of uniform. Especially as the past couple of weeks has been wonderfully warm and sunny.

However, school started today (hooray!) and the temperature plummeted to 4 degrees C. Brrr. And it rained. So I sent her in wearing the cotton dress for summer term and an old grey fleece.

All I want is a bottle green v-necked jumper or cardigan. Very frustrating.

 

8pm Update! Thanks to a lovely lady who has offered to forward the parcel on, I have been able to place an order with one of the companies who don't ship overseas. Rhiannon will now be warm. Social networking is a fabulous invention. I've never met this kind person in real life, yet she is prepared to do this for me.

 

 

Newsflash: Unpacking is Finished!

Phew, I am glad this long weekend is over (almost). I am exhausted and frazzled beyond belief.

All the unpacking, bar some pictures and the garden stuff, has been done. Now it's just a case of rearranging things and finding somewhere to put it all. This is the bit that will evolve over time. Quite a lot of time, I suspect.

I can be regularly seen gazing in horror around a cluttered room wailing "Where is it all going to go?"

The basement is full of empty boxes awaiting collection, which pleases Tim. My back is not so thrilled.

While not a public holiday in Germany, Tim does have Monday off. I expect we shall go to Ikea. There is no storage in the bathroom at all. This needs to be rectified as soon as possible. I also still don't have a printer - hopefully he will be as generous to me as he has been to Rhiannon so I can finally finish my office area. I also wish to buy houseplants. Lots of them. I deserve it.

A major plus point: Rhiannon goes to school tomorrow. You cannot imagine what a relief this is to me. She has been almost constantly at home - wherever 'home' is - from 9th March. Much as I love her, this is far too long to have a demanding, stroppy child around. And boy, has she been stroppy.

Mostly she is "bored". There should be no such word, she has plenty to do now all her things are unpacked. However, she is used to being taken out on regular jollies with Tim. In Tokyo we were close to Disney and Disney Sea, aquariums, play areas, amusement parks and whatever. Not here though. She is going to have to get used to basic, rural activities of the sort I was happy to enjoy as a kid. Deep down, she is desperately missing Japan and its familiarity. As am I.

I think a lot of the problem is the whole change of environment. It's making her feel disconnected and unsettled. This is taking the form of of veering between argumentative behaviour and tears. All understandable, of course, and I've done my best to be understanding. I feel much the same, to be honest. She played on PowerPoint today and made a presentation about Japan to show to school. I thought it would be about what she missed and so on, but it was all about the earthquake of March 11th. It's a shame that's her abiding memory of the lovely country. I shall endeavour to remind her of the rest of it soon.

Anyway, as I said, today I managed to finally finish the unpacking. All the clothes are out of their boxes and into wardrobes. Apart from the mountain that needs ironing. After a while I got fed up with sorting out the 'to iron' from the 'creases will drop out soon, I hope' and just bunged everything into the wardrobe. I'll deal with them later... sometime, maybe.

Yes, I have had to commandeer another room's wardrobe space. Mainly for coats, but I may free up some space by putting in other stuff at some point. You know, those clothes-that-don't-fit-now-but-will-do-someday...?

In other news (at last!) - Kita saw her first squirrel. It's amazing how her hunting instincts kicked in instantly and nearly tore my arm out of its socket trying to climb the tree. She is very strong. The beautiful red squirrel sat in the branch chittering at us. Very cute.

The day ended with an accident though. Rhiannon was swinging on her beloved tree swing when there was a thump followed by some very loud screaming - the swing had broken and she'd crashed to the ground. Thankfully she was only bruised and very shaken and was soon made better by some reviving hot chocolate.

Of course, the swing should have been checked when we first arrived, but hindsight is always a pain in the butt - literally so for poor Rhiannon.